Manon Mitchell Welcomes New Member Catherine Scheers
CRCF Cheque Presentation
Nick Cosentinio Delivers the Annual Treasurer's Report
Tim Heaton Receiving a Paul Harris Fellowship
A Farewell Ballad From Tim Heaton
This month's Sergeant-at-arms Bruce Millar called the meeting to order, while President Tim Heaton introduced the head table. Michael Pierson played the Colonel Bogey March to kick off the formal part of the meeting.
Following the singing of O Canada, Tom Tait delivered the invocation.
President Tim thanked Larry Martin, Bev Blair, Ralph Lundberg and Bill Clapham for organizing the front entrance. He also invited all members present to sign a get well card for honorary member Don Campbell, who was recovering from surgery.
For this week's (second-last) sing-song, President Tim Heaton selected The Trick is to Learn to Enjoy the Ride, the title track of a 1994 album by Jana Stanfield.
Outgoing secretary Kurt Kowalchuk welcomed our visitors and guests, and announced the five club members celebrating birthdays this week.
Manon Mitchell welcomed our final new member of the 2018-2019 Rotary year, Catherine Scheers. Welcome to Rotary, Catherine!
President Tim made a final appeal for nominations for the Top 7 over 70 awards. This year's nominations closed on June 30th. President Tim also announced that the club is selling tickets for the July 7th concert at The Big Four Roadhouse. He also indicated Jo-Ann has tickets for the July 7th Hays Breakfast at Heritage Park.
With the regular weekly meeting announcements out of the way, the next order of business was the club's annual general meeting.
Foundations: Tim Heaton began his year-end President's Report by focusing on the accomplishments of the Foundations Committee. Under the leadership of Sid Mark, this committee encourages and recognizes the contributions of club members to the Calgary Rotary Clubs Foundation (CRCF) and The Rotary Foundation (TRF), as well as to specific club projects. The CRCF manages in excess of $50 million, and our club's share of this total is $42 million. The net CRCF distribution to our club this year was $1,022,320, which is up 5.7 per cent from last year. This is the first year that our distribution exceeded $1 million.
Treasurer's Report: Nick Cosentino delivered an upbeat report as most of the challenges we faced over the last few years are now behind us. The treasurer's report highlighted
$2.5 million to the completion of the Rotary Mattamy Greenway
Christmas hamper support in the amount of $50,132
$609,000 pledged to international projects
$100,000 in funding of major projects
The treasurer's report also highlighted our successes in revenue generation through new community interaction, improved corporate governance, our much improved financial footing, and the fact that our community hubs funding is back on track to meet the expected completion date.
Operations: Under the direction of Kurt Kowalchuk the Operations Committee updated the club's insurance, worked on the Long Range Plan with President-Elect Rick Erven, and organized a committee to review the club's bylaws to ensure the Community Service Fund (CSF) is in compliance with Canada Revenue Agency regulations. Thanks go out to Roy Boettger, Bruce Fenwick, Tim Heaton and Rick Erven for undertaking this important work.
Membership: President Tim thanked our membership director Madeleine King, and membership chair Eric Bennett for their efforts in ensuring the vibrancy of our club. The club currently has 173 active and 28 honorary members. During the 2018-19 Rotary year the club added 13 new members, and lost 11. Special thanks go out to Rob Brookwell for leading the interview team, to Bob Ermter for organizing the new member mentors, and to Ron Hymers for organizing our corporate members.
Programs: President Tim thanked director Howie Shikaze and George Brookman for organizing our Superior Speakers Series.
The impact of our amazing speakers is amplified because the regular Tuesday luncheon meeting is very much the anchor that holds the club together.
Fellowship: Director John Seigner delivered a packed schedule of social events in 2018-19. These included our bi-weekly Frank 'n' Stein social gatherings, our Sneak a Peek celebration of the Calgary Stampede, the bus tour to the Banff Centre, dinner club, our Christmas party at the Calgary Golf and Country Club, our March ski and stroll day at Lake Louise, plus our celebration of past club presidents at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel.
Community Service: In addition to the many hours he puts into ensuring the successes of our small barbecues, Director Bruce Williams oversees a number of key committees.
The Major Donations Committee, chaired by John Boyd, presented a total of $105,000 to six truly deserving organizations at our June 18th meeting.
The Small Donations Committee, chaired by Michael Pierson and with a budget of $29,000, made donations of between $600 and $2,500 to sixteen organizations.
The Adult Literacy Committee, chaired by Al McMillan and with a budget of $15,000, has supported 64 mature students and their families.
The Lou MacEachern Fund, started by Lou in 2005 with a $1 million donation, is now valued at $1.5 million. Since 2005 our club has received $112,000 from the fund, while the community has received $438,000.
The Christmas hampers program served over 100 families in 2018. Thanks to the donations of club members, an infusion from UnGala, and a carryover from previous years, the hampers program is able to spend over $71,000 to make the holidays happier for Calgary families in need.
Fundraising and Charity Barbecues: Under the direction of Greg Stevenson, the club raised $18,300 through four fundraising barbecues, and served 5,300 patrons at seven charity events. Additionally, we hosted barbecues for low income seniors each month at Murdoch Manor in the East Village.
Community Hubs Signature Legacy Project: This project is a unique collaboration among eleven Rotary clubs in Calgary, the United Way, and the City of Calgary. With a budget of $2 million over five years, the project will provide services to low income Calgarians in their own communities. As a key enabler of the city's Enough for All initiative, the project is set to launch six community hubs in five high needs communities.
Youth Programs: Since replacing Michelle DeCecco (Youth Director since 2015) earlier this year, Bob Taylor has overseen the Stay in School program, the Rotary Tom Jackson Stay in School program, and the SIS Charity Golf Classic fundraiser for the two programs. The Stay in School program supports 98 students in Junior High and High School, twelve of which are 2019 graduates. The program admitted 12 new students in 2018-2019 from feeder elementary schools. The number of graduates from the program who are currently enrolled in postsecondary studies is 36, while an additional 66 graduates have completed their postsecondary programs.
The Rotary Tom Jackson Stay in School program supports the education of urban indigenous youth in Calgary. The program admitted three new students in 2018-2019, bringing the total number of students in the program to 23. The program celebrated a milestone this year with its first high school graduate.
This year's SIS Charity Golf Classic raised $60,000 in support of these two programs.
Under the direction of chair David Leslie, our club sent five students to RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. We also sent five students to RYPEN, the Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment. Our sponsored Interact Club at Western Canada High School is thriving. Its 65 members held a Southern Alberta Interact Symposium, which was attended by 85 Interactors.
We also supported the 2019 Rotary Calgary Concerto Competition and the Rising Stars performance with the Calgary Civic Symphony. The four concerto competition winners performed for us at club meetings through the spring.
International: Under the leadership of Sonny Belenkie, our World Community Service (WCS) Committee is one of the most active in the Rotary world, and is certainly the busiest in Canada. The scope of its activities is well described in the Where in the World Is Our Club presentation that Barbara Young delivered at our January 15th meeting. Our club has been involved in thirty projects, in twenty countries, and more than a half a million people have benefitted from the work of the WCS Committee. The WCS Committee has drawn the maximum (10) number of TRF grants allowed.
The Curly Galbraith Global Memorial (CGGM) Committee, chaired by Garth and Ann Toombs, raises and distributes money to support AIDS orphans pursuing advanced education. Forty-one of our grant recipients are now working in Uganda, while another sixteen grant recipients are working through their studies. The CGGM website tells the stories of some of these successful young people. The CGGM Committee is in the process of securing grants to support fourteen new students. Since 2011 the Rotary Club of Calgary has raised over $100,000 to provide grants for AIDS orphans in Uganda.
Grants: Under the leadership of Director Manon Mitchell, the Grants Committee sources grants for all club activities. The Committee helps various groups within the club leverage the funds we raise. The 2018 un(Gala) raised $48,000 that was split between the WCS and Major Donations committees, donated $10,100 to the RESET Society by auctioning an artwork by Ann Haessel, and contributed $8,250 for our Christmas hamper program.
Communications: David Holden and his team launched a number of new initiatives this year, including the recording of our weekly Tuesday luncheon meetings, and interviews with key club members. Thanks go out to Alexis Evdoxiadis for putting these interviews together.
Following the Director reports, Tim Heaton handed over the club presidency to incoming President Rick Erven. After receiving his president pin, our newly installed president introduced the club's Board of Directors for the 2019-2020 Rotary year, presenting each incoming board member with a director pin. He also awarded now Past-President Tim an honorary Paul Harris Fellowship to acknowledge a highly successful 2018-2019 Rotary year.
After unveiling the RI presidential theme for the 2019-2020 Rotary year "Rotary Connects the World", President Tim left us with a final sing-song. Updating the lyrics of a Jack Tempchin song, he sang One More Song (a President's Goodbye). His Rotary lyrics were inspired by the Kate Wolf (1988) version of the song.
On a final note, President Tim thanked Jo-Ann Clarke for everything she does to keep our club vibrant. Thanks for everything you do, Jo-Ann!
COG Staff - June 25th, 2019
Editor
Craig Henderson
Photography
Ralph Lundberg
Sponsorships
David Holden
Rotary Club of Calgary - Chartered April 1914 as Club #949
Suite 305, 105-12 Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2G 1A1
